Method of malting rice.



No. 693,569. Patented Feb. I8, |902.

E. C. SCIIBOTTKY.

METHOD 0F IALTING RICE. (Ajplication led NIW. 8, 1901,)

.(IIo Model.)

l l' l I I I I sf @M Nirizp @raisins arent Erica EUGENE CHARLES SUHROTTKY, OF DRESDEN, GERMANY.

iVlETl-lCD OF MAL-FING RICE.

ESPECIFICATION farming part or" Letters Patent No. 693,569, dated. February 18, 1902.

Application filed November 8,1901. Serial No. 81,590. (No specimens.l

To cir/ZZ whom it 'nm/ 2,1 concer/"t:

Be it known that I, EUGENE CHARLES SCHROTTKY, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Dresden, in the Kingdom of Saxony, in the German Empire, have invented a new and useful Improved Method of Malting Rice, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved method for malting rice, so as to convert the rice into a malt of highest quality for brewing and otherpurposes,and especially to avoid any putrefaction in the rice-malt and in the liquids manufactured therefrom.

Though unshelled rice is one of the best and cheapeststarch-containingcereals,its use for the purposes of brewing beer and distilling spirits and alcohol has up till now been very limited and has been confined chiefly to riceiiour, which is little profitable on account of its relatively high price and of its containing but little albumen, which substance, in rice even more than in other cereals, is chiefly deposited in the outer layers and which is lost in the milling.

The known methods of malting, which mainly consist, in the first place, in steeping the corn in water and allowing it then to germinate on floors in heaps and periodically turning the same according to growth and temperature, will not do for rice, the same being a tropical marsh plant, the germiuating conditions for which are totally dierent.

In some parts of Asia a primitive method of malting rice is known for the manufacture of rice beer and arrack. The rice is put into a Cask, water of ordinary temperature is then poured onto it, and the rice allowed to soak and germinate in this water for a space of ten days or so, stirring the grain occasionally. This method yields, however, a very live method the main conditions for a success` ful germination of rice are not fulfilled.

The improved method for malting rice ac cording to the present invention is based upon the observation that the defect in the primitive known method consists, in the first instance, in not sufficient air being able to get to the germinating corn. The organic changes which take place during germination require oxygen for the development of the diastase and for the growth of the rootlets and the plumule. It was further observed that the germinating process of rice will lnost advantageously take place in water at a temperature of about 35 to V38" centigrade. The malting must, therefore, not only take place in or below water at the temperature indicated, but air must periodically have free access to the germinating rice.

The accompanying drawing represents in vertical section an apparatus which serves the purpose of carrying out my invention.

A is an open water-tight tank or vessel which is furnished at some distance from its bottom proper with a perforated false bottom d. B is a pipe above said tank for the introduction of water, and C is a pipe below t-he false bot- 'tom for drawing off water.

D is a steam-pipe running through the tank below the false bottom for the introduction of steam for heating the contents of the tank above the said bottom. This pipe is represented as having the part within the Vessel perforated.

E represents heating-ducs under the bottom of the Vessel.

It may not bc necessary to use both of the above-mentioned means of heating, one of them being in most cases sufficient.

The process is conducted in this apparatus in the following manner: The unshelled rice, which first of all may be subjected to the known preparatory treatment of washing, sorting, and cleaning, is put into the tank above the perforated false bottom in a layer of about fifteen centimeters deep, and water of ordinary temperature is then let onto it, so that the water covers the grain for several centimeters. I stir this rice well and after having removed all husks and light grain and whatever floats on top of the water draw the IOG water off. Then a second lot of water o f a temperature of 35 to 38 eentigrade is let on the rice and allowed to cover it for several centimeters, and the grain has now to soak and steep in this Warm water for some time, a temperature of about 35 centigrade being kept up either by allowing steam to pass through such pipe permanently or periodically or by the circulation of hot air or gases through the lues E. By suitable cocksin the piping or dampers in the flues the temperature of the water may be controlled. When using fresh rice, this soaking and steeping process may be extended to twenty-four to thirtyhours. Foroldrice,however,forty-eight to fty-four hours are necessary, keeping up temperature of 35 centigrade. The steeping should be arranged so that the time necessary for itterminates toward the evening, when the steeping-water is let off and the rice allowed to remain without water for that night. By keeping the water-outlet pipes below the false bottom open the air has free access to pass through the layer of rice, or air may be pumped through it, so that the grain during the night may have ample facilityv to absorb the oxygen necessary for the process of germination. Next morning a fresh supplyof water of 35 to 38 centigradeis let on the rice, so as to cover the same for aboutseven centi meters, and kept on it for about twelve hours till the evening, care being taken to keep the water up to this temperature. In thev evening the water is again let otf, and the rice remains Without water for the night. This alternate treatment of the grain-viz., in water during the day for about twelve hours and without Water With free access to the air during the night, keeping the temperature of the water up to about 35 centigrade-is continued for about five or six days. It is of advantage to keep the temperature of the malting-house also up to about 30 centigrade. This alterhating treatment of the rice andthe maintaining of lthe necessary temperature in the water are the lnain conditions for a successful and satisfactory malting. The periodical drawing off of the water may be dispensed with by pumping air through the rice layer. This method has, however, not been found to yield as good results as what has been above described. At the end of these five or six days alternate treatment nearly every grain of rice will be found to have germinated,and the rootlets will have grown about twice as long as the rice-corn.

lf the rice is of the years harvest, five days of alternate treatment, notincluding the firstmentioned soaking or steeping time, will be sufficient to make a good malt. If old rice is used,then the alternating treatment should be continued for six days.

After germination has proceeded sufficiently for the development of the diastase say in the morning of the sixth or seventh day alternate treatment-the grain is to be carefully shoveled together, so as to make a layer of thirty centimeters, so as to get the Warmth for the final development. No Water is put on, and in the evening the heap is opened out and reduced again to a layer of fifteen centimeters or even less to prevent overheating. On the following morning the malt will be found ready and can then be dried in the usual Way or used at once as green malt for the manufacture of beer, spirit7 or glucose.

I claim- The herein-described method of producing malt from rice which consists in subjecting unshelled rice alternately and repeatedly to steeping in water and to exposure to air at a temperature of from about 35 to 3Sgcenti grade.

ln testimony that l claim the foregoing as my invention l have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 27th day of April, 1901.

EUGEN CHARLES SCIIROTTKY.`

Vtitnesses:

HERNANDO DE Soro, PAUL ARRAS. 

